The Last Week (part 2)

Continuing on with the events of the Last Week of Summer...

Tuesday:  A day at work for me, some swimming with friends for the kids.  Then, dinner at Deweys to enjoy a quick visit from our favorite uncle.  

Would you look at those Morehouse genes at work. 

 We love Dewey's pizza AND we love Randy, so it was a pretty great night.  After dinner I dashed down the street to participate in a planning meeting for the Heights Coalition for Public Education.  Made some great connections with like minded people, and I'm all fired up to keep fighting against the use of high stakes testing in our schools... (but that's another post!)...

It was starting to rain a bit when I left the meeting, but I thought nothing of it.  We enjoyed an evening of letting the kids stay up too late watching Olympics and chatting with our boarder, Kevin  (its a shame I feel like I am just getting to know him this week, thanks to the Olympics, right before he leaves...) and then took the littles up to bed around 10:30.

Reading some books and BAM!  the lights went out.  Went to look outside and investigate and was met by a gray blur of rain and wind.  I told the kids to come over and see this big storm, and I was just in the process of lifting Ivy up onto Jack's desk chair to get a better view when I happened to see a very large branch fly across the yard, at second-story height.  So... I told the kids to step AWAY from the window and, in fact, head downstairs.  It was crazy out there!

By the time we located all of our flashlights and candles, the scary wind had abated enough for us to go out onto the porch and watch the storm.

Here are the kids doing what they do when we watch a storm:  make a fort out of umbrellas.  They really really wanted me to get in there too, so I could be safe.  I love what makes kids feel safe...
 

We couldn't see the full extent of the damage in the dark, just the rivers of water in the street and a litter of huge branches everywhere.  We noticed cars seemed to be turning around just down the street... here's why:

Also probably the reason for our lost power.

And here's the back of our yard:

Not pictured:  the shattered windshield on my car and the half a tree down across our front yard.  The height of the storm lasted only about 10 minutes, and we are faced with about $2000 worth of damage and hot mess to clean up.  Ugh.  We are lucky, though.  Our house was not hit, and we are safe. All around our neighborhood we saw similar miracles-- giant old trees knocked over to the roof... in a perfect line to NOT hit any cars or houses.  It turns out Cleveland Heights was hit by a microburst, which is pretty much a tornado without the turning wind.  Considering that, a lot of wood to clean up and a few days without power is not too bad.  Also, our wonderful neighbor Bill let us plug our fridge into his generator so we didn't lose all of our food.  He's the best.

Wednesday:  Our scheduled Fair Day.  We realized we could stay home in our dark house being hot and depressed about the mess, or we could just go to the fair, where we could be hot but a little happier.

We had a great day melting in the heat and humidity with our friends.

We spent most of our time on the rides (thank you half-price wristband day!) and then quite a bit of time huddled under a tent listening to a cover band as the fair got hit by another storm.  Thankfully nothing frightening, but we were generally soaked people by the time we left.   We did look at chickens and bunnies (oh!  The velvet lops!!!) and we ate funnel cake and drank an exorbitant amount of lemonade and marveled at how tall and independent our children are, so I count Fair 2016 as a success.

Thursday:  Another day at work for mom, so dad and the kids went to find waterfalls.

Viaduct park and Bedford falls...

Friday: Another hot and sticky day with a very slow start (most of our days have had a slow start since we returned from our road trip, as the kids have been regularly sleeping in til 9:30 or 10! I blame a combination of Mountain Time and the Olympics for this failure of a sleep schedule....) so we decided on an air conditioned drive out to one of our favorite places- Stan Hywet Hall.

We had a fantastic time.  The grandeur of this place!  Yet, it is somehow simple, and calming... nothing to do but BE there and marvel in it. The kids do what they always do when we bring them to neat places and set them loose-- they found magic and fun everywhere.

The new PlayGarden, complete with splashpad, bubble fountain, and lawn bowling, and the most marvelous English Tudor playhouse, was a hit for sure.

But the most magic of all may have been in the butterfly habitat, where we were all bewitched by the Monrachs.  Had to drag the littles away from this...

 Our friends joined us for the day and we are so glad!  I just can't get enough of these three.

 Before heading home, we swung down to Canton to meet a brand new (9 day old!) family member:  Emma's new daughter Abigail! We watched trampoline on the Olympics (wow) and snuggled this little bundle of sweetness and it was terrific.  For his part, Jack bypassed baby snuggling as soon as he was given the opportunity, and went and played with Cousin John-John-- they are video game buddies for sure.  My girl, on the other hand?  She is baby-crazy.  She would've held Abby all day long, with that little blissed out smile on her face..

It seems like just yesterday we were snuggling that big boy-- cousin Alex-- when he was brand new!  And not all that long before, when I was snuggling my own tiny ones.  Oh time!  You are too fast. 

 Saturday-- A quick run to the lake before more storms and rain arrived...  the kids swam in the "deep end" (out past the rock breakwall) all on their own!  So big.  Then we had a sand castle building contest.  What Nat and Jack's castle lacked in aesthetics it made up for in natural, wave-fueled irrigation.  What Ivy and mine lacked in water it made up for in decorative detail.  The beach is always best when one gives in to the sand and just plays in it!

We hit a great estate sale in Lakewood before heading home for an afternoon of chores, grocery shopping and cooking.  Today-- an 8 mile run in the wet air for me, then a home-day of cleaning and trying to get just a few of those "summer tasks" done.  I am a procrastinator extraordinaire, no?

We had a lovely evening on Coventry tonight, treating ourselves to Tommy's and Piccadilly in honor of the end of a grand, grand summer.  The kids chased Pokemon and petted tiny dogs, Nat and I stuffed ourselves with great food, enjoyed people-watching, and tried to remember all of the waterfalls we visited over break.  A quiet, just-right adieu to vacation.  The real world awaits in the morning...